# Beatien Yazz artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/beatien-yazz/
Profile generated: 2026-05-24T19:06:46.451Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Navajo, American
- Movements: Native American painting
- Common media: Watercolor, Printmaking, Painting

## About Beatien Yazz

Beatien Yazz (1928–2012), also known as Jimmy Toddy, was a Navajo American painter, printmaker, and watercolorist born near Wide Ruins, Arizona. Recognized as a significant figure in Native American art, Yazz developed a distinctive practice centered on watercolor painting and printmaking, depicting animals, people, and scenes drawn from Navajo life. He worked as both an artist and a teacher, and his paintings were exhibited internationally. Beyond his gallery work, Yazz illustrated children's books, extending his visual storytelling to a broader audience. His contributions place him among the notable 20th-century Native American painters whose work bridged traditional Indigenous subject matter with modernist painting techniques. Collectors encounter his work primarily through Native American art auctions and institutional collections focused on Southwestern and Indigenous American painting.

## Common works and media

Beatien Yazz is most commonly encountered in watercolor paintings on paper, depicting animals such as deer, horses, and wildlife, as well as figurative scenes of Navajo people and daily life. He also produced prints and works in other painting media. Illustrations for children's books represent an additional category of his output. Works are typically small to medium in scale, consistent with mid-century Native American studio painting traditions.

## Market and appraisal context

Beatien Yazz's work appears at auction primarily in the Native American Art and Works on Paper categories. Values are influenced by medium (watercolor paintings tend to be more sought after than prints), subject matter, size, condition, and documented provenance. Works with clear attribution and exhibition or publication history carry stronger market interest. As with many 20th-century Native American painters, the auction market is specialized, and comparable sale records should be reviewed for current pricing context. Collectors should verify authenticity through style consistency and, where possible, documented provenance chains.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and institutional sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Beatien Yazz, identity and biographical data are drawn from Wikidata, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, and the Library of Congress authority file.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21706100
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatien_Yazz
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500127787
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/271857551/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n83185873